


seabirds

by itisjosh



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Afterlife, Beaches, Fluff, Forgiveness, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Light Angst, Ocean, Platonic Soulmates, Reunions, Sort Of, that trope where you cant see colours until you meet your soulmate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:22:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28147539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itisjosh/pseuds/itisjosh
Summary: Schlatt has never liked the colour grey.He's always prefered yellow.
Relationships: Jschlatt & Wilbur Soot
Comments: 22
Kudos: 197





	seabirds

The sand is warm under his feet as he walks, and he feels the cool water crash over his feet. Schlatt pauses, tilting his head as he listens to the call of a seagull. He's stopped trying to leave this place, since he always ended up waking back up on the beach, anyways. Schlatt's pretty sure he can explore as long as he wants, but as soon as he closes his eyes for the day, he'll be right back here. He doesn't mind the beach, it's nice and warm, he likes the ocean plenty. He's never been the biggest fan of swimming, but he doesn't mind it as much as he used to. A few trees are scattered around the beach, their leaves a dull grey colour. The sand is nearly white in colour, and the ocean is mixtures of light grey and black, like tar. 

Schlatt thinks that he'd like swimming a lot more if the water was blue. 

He knows what the ocean is supposed to look like. He knows what the colour blue looks like, and he knows what the colour sand is supposed to be. Schlatt knows that his world is grey and it's _wrong_ , and he doesn't like it. Schlatt stopped seeing colours the day he had a heart attack and died. He stopped seeing colours the day Wilbur was no longer in the same world with him. Schlatt knows all about soulmates, he found his almost ten years ago, back when they were still kids. Back when they hadn't been affected by war, back when they were friends. He reaches up, running his hands through his hair, dragging his fingers down his neck. 

Soulmates are supposed to be your other half, your _better_ half. Schlatt believed that for a long time, up until he figured out that he and Wilbur were just as fucked as each other. Still, Schlatt was always grateful for his soulmate for bringing him a world of colour, even when they drifted apart. Schlatt is used to his world being dull and grey - every time he and Wilbur would fight, life would become washed out. Everything turned grey, everything was devoid of colour. There was never a single stitch of colour in his world, and he assumed that it was the same for Wilbur. 

So they stopped fighting. 

They stopped hating each other, letting their anger and resentment boil down to bitterness and annoyance. Both of them were selfish, both of them didn't want to lose the colour in their worlds. They always have been. Schlatt isn't sure why, he doesn't know why colour was so, and still is, important to him. He thinks it's because it symbolises better times, that it symbolises when they were just kids. Wilbur really didn't change all that much. He got more ambitious, his charm and charisma shot through the roof. Wilbur changed for the better, up until the end. Then he just went fucking insane, and there wasn't much of Wilbur left. 

Schlatt couldn't really hold it against his soulmate. After all, he _was_ partially, if not fully, the cause of all of that. Schlatt is fairly certain that Wilbur's world must be grey, too. Schlatt is dead, so Wilbur doesn't get to have colour if he doesn't. That was always the rule. So long as they were on decent terms and were in the same world as one another, everything would be fine. Colours wouldn't fade from their vision, they wouldn't be thrown back into the cold, grey nothingness.

They made it work well enough. 

He drags his feet as he walks, feeling the coast air breeze by him, breathing in the smell of sea salt. Schlatt has always liked the ocean, it reminds him of Wilbur. A lot of things remind him of Wilbur. If he was able to see it, the colour yellow would be at the forefront of his mind every single day. In a way, it is. He can picture it, sort of. Schlatt's never liked grey, he's always prefered yellow. It reminds him of the sun, of Wilbur. It reminds him of Wilbur's bright smile, his jumper, the way his voice sounds. Schlatt wonders if Wilbur thinks about him. He doubts the memories are fond, considering how Wilbur is still alive, considering how he has to clean up. There's not much to clean up, all they really have to do is elect a new President, and they'll be fine. 

Schlatt wonders if he regrets running for President. A little, maybe. His friendship with Wilbur was already starting to spiral, and being elected was the final nail in the coffin, he assumes. He sighs, watching as the waves crash against the beach, dragging sand off with them. Schlatt sits down, dragging one knee up to his chest, letting his other leg sprawl out. He got rid of his suit a long time ago. Has it been that long? Two weeks have passed, and Schlatt would consider that a long time to be dead. He stares out at the ocean, smiling a little as he watches the sky ripple. The sky really isn't supposed to do that, but he's gotten used to it. Being dead is almost the same as being alive. It's just a little lonelier. 

"Schlatt." He closes his eyes at the voice, annoyance bubbling up to his chest. 

"What do you want, Wilbur-" he turns, and..

Wilbur is wearing yellow. 

Yellow?

Right. 

Soulmates.

Wait.

_Soulmates._

"You're _here_ _?_ " Schlatt laughs, pushing himself off the beach as fast as he can, scanning the area. The ocean is blue, nearly cerulean in colour. The sand is pale gold and white, the sky is blue and the clouds are light pink and white, and _holy shit, Wilbur is here_. "You..I thought you were still alive," Schlatt pauses, scanning the man up and down. He looks less tired than he had been. The bags under his eyes are wiped clean, his eyes sparkling a soft brown colour. "How'd you die?"

"Phil stabbed me through the chest," Wilbur waves a hand, a smile tugging at his lips. "I..listen," he sighs, moving to sit down next to Schlatt. Schlatt slowly lowers himself back down on the ground, watching as Wilbur drags his knees up to his chest. "I'm pissed at you."

"Figures," Schlatt laughs, entranced by the colours. They're all so fucking simple, it's all so _simple_ , but he loves it. He can't take his eyes off of Wilbur's jumper, he can't look away from the yellow. It seems to be the same for Wilbur, who's busy staring at his blue jumper. "I'm not mad at you anymore," Schlatt says, just because he can. "I've gotten over myself."

Wilbur tilts his head back, grinning when he does. Schlatt does the same, unable to keep the smile off of his face. He knows that it's just the universe fucking with him, that he isn't _supposed_ to be happy. But his soulmate is here, and he can see colours, and he's _happy_ , goddammit. "Always have to get the last word in, don't you?" Wilbur snorts, reaching out to tug on the sleeve of his jumper. "I like this colour."

"Thanks," Schlatt reaches out, taking a handful of Wilbur's jumper. "I think yellow is pretty fucking dope."

"I think so, too," Wilbur agrees. "You'd look like shit in yellow."

"I think I'd rather die than wear yellow," he agrees, softly turning away. The sun is setting. What the fuck? The sun was just rising a second ago. Whatever. "You took your sweet fucking time. When did your dad stab you?"

"The day you died," Wilbur raises an eyebrow. "I spent a bit in purgatory." 

"Huh," Schlatt frowns. He never did that. He just woke up and was here. "Weird. You're fucking weird. Your world was grey too, right?"

"Of course it was," Wilbur sighs. "Every time you're gone it is."

Schlatt grins, leaning closer to him. "Buy me dinner first, will you?" Wilbur sighs again, though his eyes are smiling. He shoves Schlatt away, giggling when he does. "I think we should get over ourselves. Well, I'm over it," he clarifies. "I think you should get over yourself is what I mean. No point in being mad over something that happened almost a month ago," Schlatt shrugs. "Plus, you can't leave. Welcome to eternity, Wilbur." 

"I'm not the one who brought it up," Wilbur shoots back. "I'm sure I could figure out a way out of this place."

"Doubtful," Schlatt sighs, looking up at the stars. "You really wanna leave already?"

A pause. 

"You know I don't."

"Yeah. I just like hearing you say it. You always sound like you're being held at gunpoint whenever you admit you actually like me." 

Wilbur grins at him, putting two fingers to his temple. "Bang," he whispers, and Schlatt just rolls his eyes. "You're my soulmate. Why wouldn't I stick around?"

"Soulmates are bullshit," Schlatt waves a hand. "You don't have to pretend that you wish your soulmate was Techno, or Phil. Or Tommy, even."

"Tommy's got Tubbo. Phil has Kristen. I don't regret my soulmate."

"Not like either of us had a choice."

Wilbur smiles. "We don't have a choice to change it or go back. So.." he shrugs. "I'm going to suck it up and be a big boy, and deal with it. You're not the worst person I could have been forced to share half of my soul with. Have you even fucking _met_ Tommy? Kid's a little shit, thank god I wasn't paired up with him." Schlatt laughs, ducking his head. 

"Okay, Wilbur. I'm glad I got you. Even if I fucking hate you."

"I hate you too, don't worry," Wilbur assures him. "I missed seeing this colour," he touches Schlatt's jumper again. "Blue."

"I missed yellow," Schlatt tells him, staring at Wilbur's jumper. "Did you miss the colour or the person wearing it?"

"You know the answer, Schlatt. What about you? Yellow or me?"

"Same answer as you, Wilbur," he smiles. They're long past being mushy about this shit. "Well," he breathes out, standing up. "Wanna take a walk in the afterlife with me, big guy?" 

Wilbur grins up at him, taking his hand. "Let's go, soulmate."

Schlatt has never been a fan of grey.

Thank god he's got his yellow back. 


End file.
